County Court Business Centre Claim Form via BW LEGAL

earth_moon626

Hello all,
I have received two claim forms from Northampton County Court for two separate claims, XXXXXX and XXXXXX. The claimant is PREMIER PARKING solutions Limited, and representing on their behalf is BW LEGAL.

The claims are almost identical, due to no parking spaces my car was parked in an almost empty private residential car park on a residential road from 9pm until 7.45am on two occasions. To my knowledge there was not a sign to say 'no parking' or that parking was enforced otherwise the car wouldn't have been parked there.

I received yellow Parking charge notices on the vehicle on both occasions and following out of date advice decided to ignore them. I received letters in my name from Premier parking for both claims and ignored these too and threw all documentation away (bad move I know since reading the newbies forum posts!). My partner, my mother and I were insured on the vehicle and used it regularly and we are unsure who the driver was on those occasions.

Since then we have moved house a few times and they seem to have caught up with me finally after not getting anything to my previous addresses. At the time we lived at a shared address with 3 flats existing under one roof where all mail was delivered through one letterbox. Mail was often thrown away by other residents as it clogged up the hall.

Particulars of claim 1:
The claimant's claim is for the sum of £100 being monies due from the defendant to the claimant in respect of a Parking charge notice (PCN) issued on 30/11/2015 (issue date) at 07:35:08 at XX XXXX XXXXXX.

The PCN relates to XX under registration XXXXXXX.
The terms of the PCN allowed the defendant 28 days from the issue date to pay the PCN, but the defendant failed to do so.
Despite demand having been made, the defendant has failed to settle their outstanding liability.
The claim also includes statutory interest pursuant to section 69 of the county courts act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum a daily rate of 0.02 from 30/11/15 to 13/09/2018 being an amount of £20.38. The claimant also claims £60.00 contractual costs pursuant to PCN terms and conditions.

Amount claimed £180.38
Court fee £25.00
Legal representative's fee £50.00
Total amount £255.38

Particulars of claim 2:
The claimant's claim is for the sum of £100 being monies due from the defendant to the claimant in respect of a Parking charge notice (PCN) issued on 09/12/2015 (issue date) at 07:31:43 at XX XXXX XXXXXX.

The PCN relates to XX under registration XXXXXXX.
The terms of the PCN allowed the defendant 28 days from the issue date to pay the PCN, but the defendant failed to do so.
Despite demand having been made, the defendant has failed to settle their outstanding liability.
The claim also includes statutory interest pursuant to section 69 of the county courts act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum a daily rate of 0.02 from 09/12/15 to 13/09/2018 being an amount of £20.20. The claimant also claims £60.00 contractual costs pursuant to PCN terms and conditions.

Amount claimed £180.20
Court fee £25.00
Legal representative's fee £50.00
Total amount £255.20

So Far:
As stated above I have (stupidly) thrown away all previous documentation from premier parking and BW legal who started writing for premier parking earlier this year and I have had nothing since from Premier parking. I want to mention that PREMIER PARKING are not the land owner.

I received a LETTER BEFORE CLAIM at the beginning of August 2018, from BW legal which I ignored on unfounded advice, and the latest I have received have been the two COUNTY COURT CLAIM FORMS, and two NOTICE OF COURT CLAIM ISSUED from BW Legal.
To this date, neither premier parking or BW Legal have acquired any confirmation, admission or any correspondence from myself.

I am yet to submit my ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SERVICE and have 3 days to do this.

After reading through many similar cases I am still unsure of what action to take now as I cannot seem to find any cases that are similar enough and have no previous documentation from premier parking or BW legal that I can use to support my defence. I am unsure of what I can use as my defence and firstly whether it is worth me fighting these cases.

Your help and advice here would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much.

KeithP

What are the Dates of Issue on your Claim Forms?

There is nothing to be gained by delaying the Acknowledgement of Service.
In fact the converse is true - miss the deadline and you run a very real risk of finding a Default Judgment against you.

To do the AoS follow the detailed instructions that can be found in a Dropbox file linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread.

Umkomaas

I am yet to submit my ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SERVICE and have 3 days to do this.

You're in real danger of sleepwalking into a double CCJ (default judgment against you) and if unpaid (over £500) your credit rating will be subject to a plane crash.

You must do the acknowledgment of service now, in order to gain a further 14 days to form your defence. Please urgently read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2 which is, and will be, your guide throughout your court proceedings.

If you can provide the date of issue shown on the Claim form, KeithP will confirm the precise timescale you have available.

Coupon-mad

earth_moon626 wrote: »

Hello all,
I have received two claim forms from Northampton County Court for two separate claims, 30/11/15 and 09/12/2015. The claimant is PREMIER PARKING solutions Limited, and representing on their behalf is BW LEGAL.

Read and bookmark the other threads the same as yours. I know of TEN other BW Legal/PPS threads by:

elithia - they also have 2 claims, just like yours

NikiFm - she also has 2 claims, just like yours

Prinndogs

SingStar101

Justice13075

bows

Matilda13

Palec

phoenixfreespirit

Cawills2018





...who are ALL at exactly the same stage - either LBC or at court stage - with a similar old (BPA time) 2014/2015 PPS ticket, using BW Legal.

Their cases are JUST like your 2 claims.

I will not provide links, I want you all to get used to how the forum works (you will need to) and find each other's threads and bookmark them and contact each other.

I suggest you all keep reading the advice on each other's threads and maybe swap info by private message, to support each other and share info and defences, as you will likely get small claims, which are likely to be beatable (no risk of a CCJ as long as none of you ignore it).

Do that AOS NOW x 2 (once for each claim).

It's easy, and the NEWBIES thread walks you through AOS in pictures, thanks to a PPC fighter I am in touch with who produced a guide I have linked there in the NEWBIES thread.

Show us your draft defence asap after that & search the forum for res judicata

earth_moon626

Hi all and thank you for your responses.

The date of service for the claims was September 14th, I submitted my acknowledgement of service on the 28th of September which to my knowledge was within the time period allowed. I have been studying the newbies thread since and am now making a start on my defence. Your help and advice will be so much appreciated as I'm slightly concerned my defence wont be strong enough as Im unsure I have enough evidence to support it however, from what I've read cases can be won regardless.

Thanks again.

Coupon-mad

Don't worry.

Worst case scenario is you defend, turn up, but lose at the hearing and the Judge tells you to pay about £175 per PCN all told, including court fee costs. No CCJ, nowt bad.

However, given that you have two claims exactly the same, it is clearly unfair that you are exposed to 2 sets of court fees.

Search this forum for res judicata and when you come to send the court & claimant your N180 DQ (the next form) put a covering letter quoting both claim numbers and say briefly that you would like a Judge to review and merge the two claims before allocation to your local court, as the Claimant has tried to file 2 claims about the same facts and the doctrine of res judicata should apply - one hearing, one set of costs.

The_Deep

The amount claimed is excessive and unlawful. The solicitors know this so you should complain to their regulatory body that they are knowingly attempting to obtain monies to which their client is not entitled.

https://www.sra.org.uk/home/home.page

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P.
for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the House of Commons recently

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41 recently.

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

earth_moon626

Could someone please advise me on whether to send BW LEGAL a part 18 requesting information and documents on the claim. I have not kept any of the previous letters from them so the only information I have is what's stated in the 'Particulars of Claim' box on the claim forms.

Thanks.

Coupon-mad

Nope, send the PARKING FIRM a SAR (see their privacy page on their website for where to send a SAR).

earth_moon626

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Don't worry.

Worst case scenario is you defend, turn up, but lose at the hearing and the Judge tells you to pay about £175 per PCN all told, including court fee costs. No CCJ, nowt bad.

However, given that you have two claims exactly the same, it is clearly unfair that you are exposed to 2 sets of court fees.

Search this forum for res judicata and when you come to send the court & claimant your N180 DQ (the next form) put a covering letter quoting both claim numbers and say briefly that you would like a Judge to review and merge the two claims before allocation to your local court, as the Claimant has tried to file 2 claims about the same facts and the doctrine of res judicata should apply - one hearing, one set of costs.

Thanks, good to know I should seek to merge these two claims.

Is the N180 DQ a form that follows submission of my defences?

Coupon-mad

Yes - please read bargepole's summary of what happens when, it is astonishing when posters make it clear they are running a defence but have not read that section of the NEWBIES thread post #2, so haven't a clue what to expect next.

Be prepared, it's half the battle, like planning your next chess move.